I Can't Breathe
by DreamerLove15
Summary: Valentine's Day has finally arrived and Riley has shaky high hopes for something romantic and special to occur in her and Lucas's confusing friendship. However, when the school goes on a lock down, the two might just finally confess. One-shot.


**_Riley and Lucas from _Girl Meets World_? I ship it! They are honestly so adorable, and they have this bubble of innocence that's just so refreshing. So, here is a rather long one-shot with lots of fluff in it. Anyone else out there who likes the show or likes the chemistry between them? Just me? Okay..._**

* * *

Riley dreamily stared out of her slightly smudged suburban window from the third floor, observing the greyish pink of the clouds floating in the sky, seemingly peaceful. Then she let out a shriek when the familiar, curly haired blonde suddenly popped up out of nowhere. Arms flailing, Riley fell backwards onto to the hardwood floor. Through the window, Maya was falling into a fit of laughter. Riley scowled, rubbing her probably now bruised butt and getting up to open the window.

"That. Was. Hilarious!" Maya exclaimed, still wheezing and laughing. Riley's frown deepened. "What?"

"You know, maybe you _should _start using the door," Riley mumbled, walking across the room to grab her backpack off the chair. "Why didn't you just beep me down?"

Maya shrugged. "This was funner," she said. "Besides, hitting the buzzer is getting old. I need some excitement in my life!"

Riley rolled her eyes, smiling and shaking her head as the two jogged downstairs just in time to see Topanga feeding Auggie plane style, complete with engine noises and all, and Cory checking his suitcase and fixing his tie in the hallway mirror. Riley beamed at this typical everyday sight. It was comforting.

"Hello, family!" she called, her grin reaching all the way up to her ears. "Today is going to be wonderful! Today is going to be utterly fantastic!"

Maya let out a deeply annoyed sigh. "Here we go."

Riley, on the other hand, took a deep breath. "Today is the 14th. As in, February 14th. As in, Valentine's Day. As in-"

"As in a day you have been so graciously looking forward to. Yes, Riley, you have been rehearsing this spiel in the bathroom every morning. We've all heard you," Cory chuckled, pecking the top of Topanga's forehead and handing her a single rose. "For you, my love."

Topanga smiled, pecking Cory on the cheek. "Thanks, honey. You're so creative," she teased. Cory frowned.

"Please, people, I'm trying to eat my breakfast!" Auggie howled, covering his eyes, his mouth still open. Topanga continued to plane-feed her five year old son who still seemed oblivious to the importance of Valentine's Day, and she was grateful. Riley was already about to turn thirteen, and had even started asking her about make up.

One child growing up was enough.

"You think Lucas will ask you out?" Maya whispered in Riley's ear as they opened the door, ready to walk to school.

"I heard that!" Cory bellowed before the girls quickly slammed the door shut. Riley's face was heating up as she fiddled with her dress, red with white hearts. The morning air was cooler than usual, and she felt thankful to have her matching white wool sweater.

"Lucas?" she asked, hoping she sounded nonchalant. "Ask _me _out? What ever for?"

Maya smacked Riley's arm. "Cut it out, will you? We both know the sparks between you and cowboy are major. What's the deal with you two, anyway?"

Riley shrugged, thinking back to the many events she had shared into the school year with Lucas as soon as he'd moved to the city and their school. They had met on the subway, when she'd literally stumbled her way onto his lap, a moment she still cringed at when thinking about it. After that, he had joined their small group of friends: her, Maya, and the infamous and annoying Farkle, an eccentric boy who seemed to be in love with both Maya and Riley, or so he liked to announce often.

The most recent moment she had shared with him was their participation in the school's play of _Romeo and Juliet, _in which, by some heaven sent miracle, Riley had received the role of Juliet and Lucas, the role of Romeo. And although Farkle has technically somehow become her first kiss (although he _did _miss, so Riley was still trying to figure out whether this counted or not...), Lucas had clearly stated that Farkle had stolen his moment once more.

"You thought that was your moment?" Riley remembered asking, her heart pounding beneath her rib cage.

"Nah," Lucas had answered, and she'd felt herself deflate. But then, "My moment... will be _my _moment."

And Riley could have sworn that sparks flew in every single direction in that one moment. He had (technically) implied that he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her, Riley Matthews, who had accidentally stuck her finger in his nose and sat on his lap- _twice_. Her, Riley Matthews, who barely knew who she was yet.

Snapping back to the present, Riley shrugged her shoulders, replying to Maya, "Nothing." Deep down, however, she prayed and hoped that there was _something, _anything, really. Because she felt that perhaps today would be that moment. _Their _moment.

* * *

"This is horrible," Maya said, gagging.

"_Au contraire_," Farkle replied, swinging an arm around Maya's shoulder, a rose stuck between his teeth. "Wanna be my Valentine?"

"Wanna lose an arm?" Maya shot back in a dull, monotonous tone. Farkle laughed, taking out the rose between his teeth and handing it to her. She hastily shoved it into her locker, which was filled to the brim with everything but a textbook.

Typical Maya.

Riley, on the other hand, found herself glumly taking out her notebooks for the day. So far she had seen five girls in her class get asked out through text, phone call, e-mail, and candy. Her eyes searched the halls for Lucas, wondering if she was being stupid. Lucas was her friend and _just _her friend. What had she been thinking?

"Oh Rileyyy," Maya sang, eyebrows wiggling up and down.

"What?" Riley sighed, shutting her locker door. Turning around, she came face to face with Lucas. The world tilted strangely to the right, the sounds around her faded away, and Maya's and Farkle's chanting turning down to a low sizzle. All she could focus on was Lucas's handsome smile and charming green eyes, and how all of this and all of him was directed right at her and only on her.

For a moment, she felt extremely lucky to be Riley Matthews.

"Hey, Riley," he simply said, as he always did every day that they saw each other.

"Hi," she said, feeling breathless, as _she _always did every day that they saw each other.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said.

She nodded, speechless and smiling, waiting for something more, what it was she was searching for she wasn't quite sure. But she hoped it was special. He handed something to her and she looked down.

"Here's the notes on our History lesson," he said. "I noticed you kind of dozed off yesterday during the lesson so I thought you'd need them."

That moment of feeling extremely lucky to be Riley Matthews? Yeah, that was gone and down the drain.

Her shoulders sagged, and the flying emotions of hope and romance were painstakingly shot to the ground. Riley suddenly understood why so many people often referred to love as a battlefield. She wanted something but she wasn't sure what it was because she was only twelve and she was only in middle school and-

"Thanks," she replied, plastering on a smile.

-she didn't know how to stop _hoping_.

* * *

"Today is Valentine's Day," Mr. Matthews stated in front of his class. Murmurs instantly swept through the middle schoolers, some excited, others gloomy.

Riley was now one of the gloomy people. Cory took note of this, but decided to brush it off until dinner time.

"A lot of you are probably experiencing some pretty crazy emotions," he said.

_Crazy is an understatement, _Riley thought. _Try insane. _

"Hate to burst your bubble-"

"That already happened two months ago," Maya rudely interrupted, as she always did.

"-but these emotions are triggered by chemicals in our body," Cory continued on, as _he _always did, growing accustomed to Maya's sarcasm.

The entire class' jaws dropped to the floors. Riley's eyes grew wide. Lucas looked conflicted, and Farkle was clutching his chest in pain. Maya sat, arms folded and smirking.

"Our brain entices us to fall in love," Cory explained. "Fifty-five percent is said through body language."

Riley tried to think back to the times when Lucas would stand especially close to her when he waited for her at her locker, and how he had constantly poked her side during their play rehearsals. What did his body language inform then?

"Thirty-eight percent is the tone and the speed of our voices."

So Lucas sometimes speaking extremely slow had something to do with the chemicals in his body? Riley thought she smelled a smoky scent, assuming her brain was working a little harder than usual at this love stuff.

"And only seven percent is through what we actually say to that other person."

That would explain why they mostly talked through text message, and why sometimes it was so difficult for them to converse in person, even after they had connected and learned more about each other at the library during their No Cellphones assignment.

"So thank those loving chemicals in your body for making it possible for you to feel those emotions," Cory reminded them. Farkle raised his hand, still holding his chest. "Farkle time?"

Farkle nodded, getting up as Cory switched seats with the boy, allowing him to take over. "With all due respect, Mr. Matthews, I think you are very wrong."

Riley's eyebrows rose in astonishment.

"How so?" Cory questioned.

Riley leaned forward, curious.

"I think that, although the chemicals in our body are part of helping us feel the way we feel today, it's still _us _as human beings who _choose _to feel this way," Farkle explained.

Cory pondered this thought, nodding his head. "Go on."

"There are people in this world who _choose _to not feel anything today. They choose to dismiss Valentine's Day and treat it like a complete joke."

Maya shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"And then there are people who are out of this world, gung ho happy about today. They see rainbows and hearts and puppies and stuff."

Riley made a face.

"Finally, there are people that-"

The lights in the classroom shut off, and in the distance a fire alarm was going off. Riley smelled that smoky scent again, realizing that it wasn't her brain but rather a real emergency.

"This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill," the speakers declared, and the hairs on Riley's arms rose. An actual, dangerous emergency happening on Valentine's Day, of _all _days?

What if she wasn't able to go home and hug Auggie and remind him to enjoy being a kid?

What if she never would be able to see who Farkle would choose, her or Maya or back of the class Brenda?

What if-

"Lucas," she croaked, an emotion washing over her instantaneously, so overwhelming and powerful that she couldn't explain it. A loud shot echoed in the hallways, and then silence.

Was that a gun?

Riley's heart was hammering now, the fright in her stomach lurching forward. She felt herself becoming frantic as she began to search for Lucas, Maya, Farkle, her father, anyone familiar in the dark. Her hands aimlessly fought their way through the crowds of other frightened students. Suddenly, a pair of hands found hers and before she could fathom whose they were, they pulled her into a tight embrace. A tingle shot straight up her spine.

She knew _exactly_ who this was.

And although they had never hugged before, although she was only almost thirteen, she could smell his clean shirt and feel how warm his body felt, how her head was snugly resting against his chest. Another shot rang through the hallway, and she found her eyes squeezing shut in fear.

"Riley?" the boy asked, pulling away and placing his hands on her shoulders. She found herself shaking, both in fear and in joy. If this was how her life was going to end, it was alright with her, being with someone she cared about.

"Lucas," she said.

"Riley, God, I don't know what's going on right now but-"

"It's okay, Lucas," she reassured him, trying to find his bright green eyes in dark. She found them, faint glistening emeralds.

"But it's not!" he exclaimed, clearly frustrated, a side of him she had never seen, let alone knew existed. "Riley, today I was just going to hang out with you and pretend it was like any other normal day. I wasn't going to do anything out of the ordinary."

"Oh," she mumbled, letting the disappointment drown her. So nothing would have happened today, after all. At least he was telling her the truth. She had to give him some respect for that.

"And that would have been... the _dumbest, _most _stupidest _mistake I have ever made in my entire life," he stated.

Her heart went from limp to ecstatic, beating harder than ever before. She felt a small, shy and anxious smile forming on her lips. "Oh," she said again, this time in a tone less dismal.

"Riley," he said, sounding quite nervous himself as his hands moved down from her shoulders to her fingertips, squeezing them urgently. She fought the urge to squeal. "I like you. A _lot_."

"So much that it scares you?" she asked. She made out his sudden smile of relief in the dark and felt herself swoon a little. He nodded eagerly.

"Exactly," he said.

"Me too," she whispered.

"Oh," he said.

"Yeah," she replied.

Before she could add anything further, before she could elaborate more on her feelings, Lucas leaned in and kissed her in the dark with the alarm ringing in the air and people going crazy around them and a possible gunman roaming the halls because he had been wanting to do this since the day she'd landed in his lap on the subway. He'd been wanting to do it in the library, when their eyes locked and when he'd told her what he wanted to be when he grew up, how he had never told anyone before yet being with her made him want to blurt out everything about himself.

And the kiss was sweet but awkward and unsure because they were only middle schoolers, after all. Their brains were barely tainted, innocence still filled their hearts. Then the lights turned back on and Lucas quickly pulled away, looking at Riley in the light now, who was shocked but happy but shocked but happy but-

"Cheese and crackers," Cory muttered, his eyes growing wider by the minute. He hadn't just... his little girl hadn't just... with Texas boy... did she really...

The classroom door flew open, and Riley jumped into Lucas's arms out of fear, then opened one eye. It was a student, looking frantic but relieved.

"The chemistry team... Our experiment went wrong... Fire... Circuits turned off..." he tried to explain, breathless.

"There's no gunman?" Lucas asked, his arms protectively wound around Riley.

"I'm not going to die?" Riley added.

"I told you guys to not mess with the carbon dioxide!" Farkle yelled, frustrated as he stomped over to the boy, yanking him outside towards the chemistry lab. Riley slowly pulled away from Lucas, embarrassed.

"So this wasn't our last time to be together," she mumbled shyly, positive that her cheeks were blazing pink.

"Guess not," Lucas said. "But that's good."

Her head snapped up. "It is?"

His smile grew wider. "Now we have _more_ time to be together," he pointed out, linking his fingers with hers. A giggle escaped her mouth, but only because she couldn't help herself. Lucas was holding her hand. Just a few seconds ago, Lucas had kissed her. He had told her that he liked her, and a lot, too. "Which chemical do you think is bringing us together right now?"

"Oxygen," Riley immediately answered, her heart close to bursting.

"Why oxygen?" he asked.

"Because I can't breathe," she said, smiling and leaning in to kiss him one more time, one kiss in the dark, one in the light.

* * *

**_Whew! Okay, that was REALLY long but I feel satisfied because I've been wanting to write something cute for Riley and Lucas for awhile now, actually. I hope you guys enjoyed this, and let me know if you want more Riley and Lucas one shots. Have a beautiful day!_**


End file.
